Support

A cookie is a piece of data stored by your browser or device that helps websites like this one recognize return visitors. We use cookies to give you the best experience on BNA.com. Some cookies are also necessary for the technical operation of our website. If you continue browsing, you agree to this site’s use of cookies.

Events

Bloomberg Next marketing services allow clients to elevate their brands and extend their reach through our established and trusted expertise, enhanced with engaging event production, appealing design, and compelling messaging.

Lack of Permanent FDA Chief Delays Big-Picture Work

New drugs and devices will still get approved as the FDA waits for a new leader, but
the lack of a permanent commissioner will delay work on implementing 21st Century
Cures Act provisions and filling job vacancies.

“The FDA needs a confirmed commissioner. The role includes a significant amount of
negotiation among the many influential people with views about policy,”
Robert Califf, the most recent Senate-approved leader of the Food and Drug Administration,
told Bloomberg BNA in a Feb. 25 email. Califf is now a professor of medicine at Duke
University.

Two names being floated as potential nominees for FDA commissioner under the new administration
are Scott Gottlieb and Jim O’Neill. Both have publicly expressed ideas that would
significantly change the way the agency operates.

Gottlieb has worked at the agency as a deputy commissioner and has a medical degree.
He is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. O’Neill is a managing
director at the San Francisco-based investment firm Mithril Capital Management. O’Neill
held various positions at the Department of Health and Human Services during George
W. Bush’s administration. Gottlieb declined to comment, and O’Neill didn’t return
a request for comment.

As of March 2, President Donald Trump hasn’t nominated anyone to lead the FDA. The
timing isn’t that different from when President Barack Obama took office in 2009,
and nominated Margaret Hamburg for the position in March. Hamburg was confirmed in
May 2009. Califf took over after Hamburg resigned, and he was confirmed by the Senate
in February 2016.

Stephen Ostroff is serving as the acting commissioner. Previously, Ostroff was the
deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.

When contacted by Bloomberg BNA, the FDA said in a statement that it “continues to
work to protect and promote public health.”

Absence of Commissioner Creates Uncertainty

“Moreover, leadership will be especially critical this year to begin implementing
directives under the 21st Century Cures Act [a 2016 law to speed new drugs and devices to market] and to help
shepherd critical, must-pass legislation reauthorizing the FDA’s user fee programs
through Congress,” Rye said.

Congress is preparing to consider legislation to reauthorize the laws governing industry-paid
user fees, which help fund the FDA. All of the FDA’s user fee programs expire Sept.
30. New legislation will be needed to reauthorize the programs for fiscal years 2018
through 2022. The agency has separate fee programs for prescription drugs, generic
drugs, biosimilars and medical devices.

The user fee legislation “must be developed by this spring and must be passed by May
or June in order for the agency to have the money to be able to continue to function
on Oct. 1. And the agency needs leadership in terms of that,”
Wayne L. Pines, president of health care at APCO Worldwide, told Bloomberg BNA. APCO
Worldwide is a global public affairs and strategic communications consultancy. Pines
also served 10 years in senior positions at the FDA.

Jeffrey N. Gibbs, director of the law firm Hyman, Phelps & McNamara PC in Washington,
told Bloomberg BNA the FDA “has a lot of work and always has new issues to deal with
and being rudderless at the top doesn’t help. Having an acting commissioner is good,
but it’s not the same thing as having someone who is authorized to serve as commissioner.”
Gibbs advises FDA-regulated companies, and previously worked at the agency.

Gibbs said if the FDA isn’t “working on regulations or guidance documents required
under 21st Century Cures, will they be able to meet the deadlines?”

“Right now even routine functions like publishing Federal Register notices about upcoming
meetings, as I understand it, have been put on hold,” he said. “The agency has had
acting commissioners before; it’s not at all uncommon. But this is certainly an unusual
transition and I think that there’s probably a higher level of concern.”

Product Approvals Continue

While the lack of a permanent commissioner could have an impact on big initiatives,
it doesn’t affect the daily business of approving drugs and devices, updating product
labels and inspecting manufacturing facilities.

“So the basic work of the FDA and the work that actually is most visible to the patient
community and to the medical community goes on,” Pines said.

“When FDA lacks a permanent commissioner, the work of the agency continues, but new
initiatives are not started and stakeholders are unlikely to see a change in direction,”
Jennifer L. Bragg, an attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Washington,
told Bloomberg BNA in an email.

Bragg advises FDA-regulated companies, as well has hospitals and health-care systems,
facing government investigations and FDA enforcement challenges.

Communications with HHS, White House

The lack of a permanent, confirmed commissioner also affects communications between
the FDA, the HHS and the White House.

“There is some risk that FDA’s ability to provide substantive input to HHS is diminished
since the commissioner serves as the point of communication within the Executive Branch,”
Bragg said.

Without a permanent commissioner, “the relationship with the HHS and the White House
tends to be somewhat different when you have an acting commissioner who is just a
permanent member of the FDA staff rather than someone who is selected by the administration,”
Pines said.

Job Vacancies at FDA

The FDA also has numerous job vacancies, and the agency’s ability to find qualified
people to fill those vacancies could be hampered by the lack of a permanent commissioner,
as well as the 90-day hiring freeze imposed by the Trump administration.

As part of the Cures legislation, the FDA was given explicit hiring authority. This
was a key part of Congress’s efforts to spur new medical treatments. The agency also
was given more money to hire people under Cures.

The vacancies are “a problem that will really need to be solved at some point. The
21st Century Cures Act helps a little bit with that by providing higher salaries for FDA
people, but that’s going to require real commissioner leadership,” Pines said.

Another factor affecting the agency’s leadership is that the head of the FDA’s drug
center is doing two jobs.

Janet Woodcock, the director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research,
is also now the head of the Office of New Drugs. She took over the position when John
Jenkins left the agency in January to join the regulatory consulting firm Greenleaf
Health.

Woodcock “is an amazing person, but those are two full-time jobs” and “she can’t be
expected to provide overall agency leadership on some of the other issues” when she
holds two positions, Pines said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bronwyn Mixter in Washington at
bmixter@bna.com

All Bloomberg BNA treatises are available on standing order, which ensures you will always receive the most current edition of the book or supplement of the title you have ordered from Bloomberg BNA’s book division. As soon as a new supplement or edition is published (usually annually) for a title you’ve previously purchased and requested to be placed on standing order, we’ll ship it to you to review for 30 days without any obligation. During this period, you can either (a) honor the invoice and receive a 5% discount (in addition to any other discounts you may qualify for) off the then-current price of the update, plus shipping and handling or (b) return the book(s), in which case, your invoice will be cancelled upon receipt of the book(s). Call us for a prepaid UPS label for your return. It’s as simple and easy as that. Most importantly, standing orders mean you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you’re relying on. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.960.1220 or by sending an email to books@bna.com.

Put me on standing order at a 5% discount off list price of all future updates, in addition to any other discounts I may quality for. (Returnable within 30 days.)

Notify me when updates are available (No standing order will be created).

This Bloomberg BNA report is available on standing order, which ensures you will all receive the latest edition. This report is updated annually and we will send you the latest edition once it has been published. By signing up for standing order you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you need. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.372.1033, option 5, or by sending us an email to research@bna.com.

Put me on standing order

Notify me when new releases are available (no standing order will be created)